Favor
Proverbs 16:15 (NIV)
15 When a king’s face brightens, it means life; his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.
I have heard a lot said about the "favor of God" in my life. As a child, it puzzled me. Then, later, as an adult, I found it was something people were often saying others had "on their lives" when good things came their way. Even later still, this "favor" seemed to elude me. Happily, a few years ago I heard a young man talking about a trip to Mexico he had been on. While trying to find the best way to witness to a large crowd of people, he prayed. "God show us your favor. Where is the favor God?" He then went on to explain how it all unfolded and many were healed. But I was still thinking about the prayer. It had illuminated something new for me. All this time, I had been asking God to place His favor on the things I was doing. Now here's this young man, asking God to open his eyes to where God's favor already was so he could go there. Obviously, there was a renewed mind kind of moment for me. So for the last few years, I have been praying a very funny yet serious prayer; "Show me the favor". All I can say is more often than not, the path of His favor is not exactly how I would have done things. However, it is always the path that blesses others as well as myself, and teaches me to be more like Him along the way. Sometimes, the blessing comes in a door not opened, the credit not given, or opportunity not seized. Most often, the lenses of time allow us to see the wisdom in His favor being different than what we would have thought best.
What does favor look like to you?